Naked Scientists NewsFLASH

This week, how a fetal genome can be sequenced before birth, how pregnant women protect their babies from immune attack and how rainfall can be used to map seasonal Malaria and improve drug treatment programmes. We also hear how stems cells could cause vascular disease, discover a digital way to improve reading for people with dyslexia and explore the colourful personality of the Gouldian Finch!

What makes a perfect tomato? In this NewsFlash, we discover the compounds that comprise the tastiest tomato, and why modern agriculture is getting it wrong. We'll also hear why working shifts can alter fertility, and how to store data in DNA. Plus, the world's biggest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array, will be shared between South Africa and Australia, we find out what it means for the future of science in Africa.

In this NewsFlash, the deep-sea dwelling bacteria that are still eating a meal that dates from the times of the dinosaurs, a new system for saving satellites and how a brain interface device can allow paralysis patients to control robotic arms, giving them the freedom to move again.

This week we hear how ants and plants are combining forces to help each other survive, how monkeys are cheekily planning for their future and how boosting brown fat in the body can help control our weight. We also investigate the matchmaking process of cells during meiosis, how the pathology of a virus could be predicted by analysing proteins in cells and how dinosaurs could have warmed the earth...with their flatulence!

In this NewsFlash, we hear how farming migrated across Europe, how distant supernovae affect diversity of life on Earth, and the role of DNA and inflammation in heart failure. Plus, we home in on the parts of the pigeon brain responsible for sensing magnetic fields...

Cells grafted into the eye restore sight to blind mice, three genes can convert scar tissue back into beating cardiac muscle following a heart attack and electrical stimulation that returns movement to limbs paralysed by spinal injury. Plus nanoparticles to deliver drugs to treat cerebral palsy and a new technology to boost the reach of RFID tags for real time long-range tracking...

How can we hear a conversation in a noisy room? In this NewsFlash, we find out how a robot can tell us how moving your head alters the way the brain interprets sound, and we discover the epigenetic signature of colon cancer. Plus, a magnetic mystery - why iron rich cells in the beaks of homing pigeons are not the guiding compass we thought they were...

This week, we find out how our brains can be stimulated to think outside the box when solving problems, how ancient raindrops can provide insight into our early atmosphere and how spacecraft could be soon be launched by a pint-sized rocket. Plus, how pesticides are reducing bumblebee populations and tackling antibiotic resistance with chemical compounds...

In this week's NewsFlash, we find out how blood tests could predict an imminent heart attack, investigate what the Mercury Messenger probe has revealed about the planets environment one year on from its launch, discuss how sewers can provide insight into drug use within a population and discover how scientists are seeing around corners in 3D. Plus, a new drug target in the fight against male pattern baldness and how bears can heal wounds as they hibernate...

In this NewsFlash, we find out why some astronauts' sight suffers in space, explore the pressure for better prostate cancer screening and discover that nanoparticles may turn bacteria into superbugs! Plus, how your gut learns to tell food from foe..